Words of Wisdom - "What makes a good CO?"
What do you feel are the most important traits for playing a CO? "Flexibility, creativity, and diplomacy. We sim because it's fun, and therefore a sim should be fun for everyone involved -- so it's up to the CO to maintain that atmosphere. That means keeping everyone involved, and being flexible and creative when writing sims. Diplomacy is just as important: the entire crew should feel comfortable approaching the CO, and the CO should be trusted to be fair and impartial when resolving conflicts." -- Rear Admiral John M. Styre, USS Lothlorien "1) Patience. There will be the one (or more) crew members, whether old to the organization or new, that will try a CO's patience. 2) Flexibility. Although a great deal of us would like to have certain actions happen at certain times, there are times where you have to throw your play book to the wind and be flexible with the sim plot and where it's going. Changing a plotline while in the middle of the plot is a sometimes necessary evil. 3) Showing pride in your crew. While most of my simmers were new on the Lexington when I took over the center chair, and there was many flubbers, and getting used to the techno-babble. I was always proud of them and how far they have come. 4) Love of the game. This is probably one of the biggest... if you're not in love with it still, wanting to come online and have an adventure, then it maybe time to take to the sidelines and recharge the batteries. Being a CO is a thankless job, that's why you have to love being it." -- Fleet Captain Robb Clemens II, retired "Experience and knowledge. One must have the experience of all the posts to not only know what they do, but how to incorporate them into the sim. One must be able to use what they know and apply it to the sims from what they learned and what they know from Trek shows and books. Another and very important element a person must have is the ability to create and weave a story. They have to use all the story elements and involve a theme to make a better and deeper story in the sim. One must also know how to connect A to B and B to C to not only have the story make sense, but to have a deeper and tighter story." -- Captain Will Styles, retired How does a CO keep a sim interesting for all simmers? "Basically, the whole crew must have the *opportunity* to get involved in the plot. It's not possible for every plot to have facets that specifically include every department -- an action sim probably won't involve the science department to any great extent -- but the plot should let any character throw their hat into the ring if they want. Of course, the crew is also part of this process: if someone resolutely refuses to come out of their office, you can't hold their hand at the expense of everyone else's enjoyment!" -- Rear Admiral John M. Styre, USS Lothlorien "Ahh, now that is a question... that's right up there with how to make lead into gold. In my opinion, there is no magic ingredient to make a sim interesting for all simmers. A lot of us rotate plot lines between departments. This week science, next week tactical. That way people can be involved. However, an important key is making sure that your players are doing something. While it may be a secondary plot line, people doing something else tends to keep a happy crew. This you can usually see of the more experienced (aged) crews of a ship. Where their characters will go off an a tangent that keeps them occupied, if not part of the main plot line." -- Fleet Captain Robb Clemens II, retired "Make it interesting by coming up with a good plot. Humor and action should be used. Sims should also be deeply developed. Not everyone can and will be involved, but I've used war sims a lot, which drag everyone into the fray. No one will really have a good answer for this one. People will either want to be involved or not. Can't force them." -- Captain Will Styles, retired Words of Wisdom - CO